ramot
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Everything posted by ramot
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So pleased to hear you have settled back,, and sound so happy, but I don't think you can compare village life to Sydney, or any other city. One of the things I was looking for when we were moving to Oz, was a village environment, as we had lived in a large village when we last lived in UK, but I do relate to your experience in Sydney as we had a house in London We moved close to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, and there is a great sense of community here, our neighbours had us in for coffee on our first morning here. We find people really support each other. Our small close has a Christmas street party every year, and although we don't socialise much with each other, we are always there for each other, eg. taking in the mail and checking the house if anyone is away, In other words the usual neighbourly things. We have made really good friends here, which we might have thought would be difficult as we retired here with no family or friends in the area, but we were made so welcome. It's absolutely not my intention to start one of those stupid comparison arguments that have a habit of happening on Poms, I'm really pleased to hear so many posters happy with their move back to UK, just wanted to point out that there are equally friendly places in Oz.
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Well worth a visit, we went there a few years ago and I still have the sapphires I found there, bit small sadly to do anything with. Have also been to Lightening Ridge, which is another really interesting place to visit.
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Depends if the OP needs the money to set up in UK. We kept our house in London and never regretted it. There has never been any problem renting it out, we use an agent, and the rent has paid the mortgage. It is worth considerably more 14 years later, was the right thing for us to do, but everybody has to make their own decisions depending on their financial position.
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Well OP you certainly chose a neighbourhood that bears absolutely no comparison in any way to where I have lived on the Sunshine Coast for the last 14 years. So although this is your experience, it is important for potential new arrivals to know other posters have not experienced anything like the above post.
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We will have been here 15 years if we get our PR through next year. We are here legally on a Retirement visa and lodged for PR when finally eligible for a parent visa. Then an extra 4 years for citizenship instead of 1, just pointing out that there are many examples of people who don't fit the 4 years on PR, then straight to citizenship, so that's why the 3 extra years on PR seems a bit rough.
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143 visa applicant with Parkinson's disease
ramot replied to chris&josh's topic in Family / Partner Visas
As mentioned health insurance is very expensive for temporary non residents, we pay $10.000 yearly per couple for top cover, and it has gone up incredibly over the last 2 years. 42% the year before last and another 10% this year. The comparable insurance cost if you are a PR is half of ours. Also existing conditions are difficult to get cover for, and you have to pass the medical for the visa. I will read our cover through to see if it covers mobility aid etc., We aren't entitled to Medicare on our visa, so I have no idea what help you might get on a bridging visa. -
The advice to send your son back to UK at his age just to get into the UK school system has to be thought about long and hard. as an expat, our daughter like lots of our friends children, was left at school in UK while we were thousands of miles away. They have to be tough to cope without you, and so do you. might be ok in the very short term, but the things you miss out on being so far away are hard to cope with, how will you feel if they are sick for instance, crying down the phone, they are at a very vulnerable age, can find life hard to cope with, without you around, we would never have done it if there had been an alternative. I still feel guilty and I was one of the lucky ones who could fly back at the drop of a hat and cheaply when there was a crisis, ( eg when her best friend died), to my husbands job, different story if you have to pay full fare. Of course education is important, but you can I think go to 6th form college and still take GCSE's to catch up. There is of course the problem of being eligible for university, but again you don't have to go at 18.
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Buy Aldi's washing powder if you have one near you, much cheaper and washes everything clean. Wish everyone much happiness in their new lives in Australia. We have applied for the 864. We are in a different situation to most posters. We retired here 14 years ago, and have since been followed by 2 of our children, so are now eligible for the parent visa. We love our life here, have been made so welcome and made great friends.
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Go to Aus whilst waiting for Partner Visa?
ramot replied to greenwoodryan96's topic in Family / Partner Visas
I have mentioned what happened to a friend of mine, yes on a different visa but very unpleasant experience. She was on a 1 year visitor visa, sorry can't remember the no. but think it was some sort of parent visitors visa, which required her to leave every 3 months, then return for the same length after a trip away? She was a well travelled ex pat. in her 60's who had a daughter in Sydney and another in NZ. on her 2nd or 3rd return to Sydney from NZ having been away again for a couple of months, she was escorted from the immigration desk, her UK passport taken from her and shut in a room on her own for over 30 mins. After that she was grilled for a lengthy time about her motives, had to prove she was here as a tourist, and what places she had visited!!! She had broken no rules, but was given a very hard time before her passport returned. So if immigration can be so suspicious of someone who is abiding by the rules of her visa, then who knows how they will treat someone who keeps entering on a 3 month visa. Also as a long term member, please new members be aware that the forum is very lucky to have free advice from the respected MA's who post.- 27 replies
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I don't know if things have changed since I topped up my payments to the state pension, but in I paid in approximately 700 uk pds a year in the 3 years before my pension was due. I wasn't entitled to a full pension. As long as I lived !!! for 2 years after I started to receive my pension, then the amount of increase pension was balanced out against amount paid. Ok I was lucky I was eligible from age 60, but nearly 13 years later I am well in credit, It was money well spent, and as I am usually in UK for about 3 months most years, then the additional increase while there is pretty good
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Sorry no idea about NAB. The commonwealth bank doesn't charge.
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I would suggest you compare the exchange rate offered by TransferWise to your bank's rate. we transfer every month with transferwise, and cannot fault the exchange rate plus speed of the transfer, it's so quick and efficient.
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457 Visa - I want to quit my job and go Defacto - issues?
ramot replied to JJLR99's topic in Repealed and Closed Visas
Maggie May is giving the right advice. My daughter and partner lodged a partner visa before she then left her 457 job which had several years still to run, and unless things have changed to the best of my limited knowledge, you can canx the 457 but it doesn't cease until the original end date. her bridging visa A did not come into effect and she went on bridging visa E until her 820? was issued. It was a bit of a nightmare, no work rights and you leave the country you can't get back in for I think several years. They pleaded and proved financial hardship and she did have the work rights reinstated but it took several months. The good news is they are still together 5 years later. Good luck, but be careful, and might be worth asking a migration agent for advice. ps Also I think the clock starts again as per your time spent in Oz if you go on BVE -
I worry because it is a pre existing condition it might be difficult to get insurance and not sure if travel insurance would cover treatment. Might be worth finding out what the Bristol cost would be? Sometimes going direct and explaining you have to pay, not using insurance the price quoted is cheaper. Don't know if my experience will be of any use. I have recently been in UK for 3 months, and had a bit of a bad visit health wise. Although I live in OZ, I am on a long term temporary retirement visa, and fall between the cracks as don't have Medicare and therefor no reciprocal cover with NHS. I went to A&E no charge I went to a follow up clinic no Charge Twice to one GP no charge Once to different GP no charge I explained on every occasion that I lived in OZ, but no reciprocal rights. Have a British passport and gave my NI number but have no national health? number. No one wanted to know, and no charge for scripts either. We always have insurance so I was covered and prepared to pay. We were in Bristol and stayed in airbnb and should you go there will pass on where we stayed, but places get very booked up especially in summer. I do hope you can sort something out, I know I hardly ever post any more ( you know the reason) but I do pop in from time to time, but do follow how you are doing and really hope you can get something arranged. xxM
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We have UK bank accounts, no problem at all registered to our Australian address. Cards are sent to Oz. The only thing to be aware of, think it's true, make sure that they remain active by paying in even small amounts. Think accounts get frozen if not used for a couple of years?
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Update: Checked when we went to immigration that date your visa is received is the day that it is lodged. So we lodged our 864 visa on Monday 20th March and had acknowledgement email on Friday. off to UK for 11 weeks, on Monday 27th and greatly relieved application in before we left. We are in a different position to most posters as we have already lived in Australia for 14 years, on the 410 visa and 2 of our children followed us to live here. So we are now eligible to apply for the parent visa, we stay on our 410 visa until hopefully the 864 is issued
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Thanks. We will ask when we go in on Monday, that's working on the theory we can trust what we are told!
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This might sound a silly question, but what counts as the lodgement date for lodging the parent visa? Is it the day you hand in your visa, or is it the day it's acknowledged? We are going to immigration on Monday morning to lodge our 864 visa application, we know we have to be onshore to lodge, but we are a bit tight on time for it to be acknowledged as we are heading off to UK for 11 weeks on Tuesday 28th, and want to preferably lodge before we go away. Would be just our luck for the cost to go up early, if we left it till our return.
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Sorry to ask as I'm still not clear. Is the original payment of AUD 3695 per applicant or per couple applying? Thanks Has anyone on this thread applied for the contributary parent visa while already in Oz on a 410 retirement visa?
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Sad news, remember her well, always happy to help us all.
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We use Transferwise as well, we transfer every month and Can't fault the service. Friends recommended them, and we are glad we changed from previous well known company.
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this is not intended to depress you, but having lived here retired for 13 years the exchange rate has fluctuated from about $2.8/9 to the pound when we arrived to a low of $1.47 in 2012. 2012 and 2013 it averaged $1.55/6. So you do have to factor the flutuations into your calculations, to see if you can afford to live here in the worst scenario.
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Just want to point out that the 'price' of the visa, is there because as retirees moving to OZ it's unlikely that anyone has contributed towards Medicare, and it theoretically goes towards health care costs that become potentially more expensive the older you are and therefore needing Medicare.
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Promise I'm not going off track, but immi doesn't give a toss about applicants, only interested in takeing your money My son was on a bridging visa for 3 1/2 years because the government changed the rules retrospectively just after he lodged his valid visa application, he was one of the lucky ones who eventually got PR, most were left in limbo for more years and years, until the government canx. the visa applications, they had spent out thousands of dollars for nothing.
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I promise I'm not posting this to upset anyone, but I was talking to a friend who works in immigration, and a). they are under staffed b) There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds applying for visas, and many of them are anything but straight forward, and have to be thoroughly investigated, which holds up the process considerably. I'm on your side as we have to make the decision to apply for the parent visa or stay on our temporary visa, so was interested in my friends answer.
